


Henry, or: Fuck You, Rebecca

by boxoftheskyking



Series: TTOBB Band AU [2]
Category: Two Two One Bravo Baker Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-08
Updated: 2012-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-29 04:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxoftheskyking/pseuds/boxoftheskyking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry contemplates Mac's new song.<br/>TTOBB band AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Henry, or: Fuck You, Rebecca

By rights, Henry should hate this fucking song. Mac can call it “Rebecca” if he wants to; Henry knows who it’s really about. It took a good week for him to actually sing it properly. He’d never had a problem singing Mac’s songs before. They worked on new stuff together, most of the time, but sometimes one would come in with a whole chart nearly finished. Henry was always fine singing Mac’s words. But this one seemed a little bit too … real.

He does it well though. He’s no egomaniac, but there’d be no point having a band at all if you can’t tell when you’re good. 

Will wrote is own riff for the bridge, too, which is amazing. Even though he _wants_  to hate it, he can’t help getting a shiver in the pit of his stomach when Mac starts up the bass rhythm. Tom follows really well, though Henry can’t really think about Tom if he wants to do the song right. Can’t afford to get weirded out in the middle of a song.

The lyrics are good—just the right side of bitter. Not too hopeless, but no happy ending, either. The percussive ‘c’s’ in the repeated name sound perfect as Henry spits them into the mic.

But the best part, the very best part, is right before the last chorus. By rights, it’s the part Henry should hate the most. But Will cycles off into the stratosphere and Tom goes crazy and then suddenly everything cuts out and Mac just howls. Steps right up to the mic and howls like his heart’s on fire, like he’s being flayed alive. And then he stays in for the last chorus, wailing a tenor harmony that made Gar drop his Coke the first time he heard it. From that howl until the end of the song, Henry’s hair stands on end. Every inch of it. Goosebumps everywhere. And it never gets old. That sound never gets any less agonized, and the repetition of the chorus never gets boring. Every rehearsal, every performance, Henry has a moment at the end of this song when he thinks to himself, clear as a bell, “This is what it’s about. This is it, Henry Barr. This is what you do.”

He tries really hard to hate it, though. After the Brixton gig, the first time “Rebecca” was revealed to the public, he and Mac get roaring drunk. Well, Mac gets roaring drunk and Henry gets stumbling-and-babbling drunk. 

“I really wanna hate that song, man,” he says earnestly, grabbing ahold of Mac’s collar. “I know what it’s about. You think I don’t know but I know. I _know_  about  _you_. Man.”

“Yeah?” Mac asks blearily.

“Yeah. So I’m really trying to hate that song. I just love it too much, you know. But I’m tr— I’m trying to hate it. I am.”

Mac claps him on the shoulder and stares him straight in the eye.

“Henry,” he says seriously. “I appreciate the effort.”


End file.
